Hasmonean Dynasty, Hebrews 11:34

Maccabees actually the family name was Hasmonean was the family name and Maccabee was the nickname of Judah one of the sons of Mattathias the Hasmonean who was a priest.

The celebrated Jewish Hasmonean family 170-37BC that defended the Jewish rights and customs.

This Jewish Hasmonean family and other Jewish families stayed faithful to God during the time called the 400 years between the old and New Testaments.

Old Testament Bible reference: this happened in the 400-year intertestamental period.

Purified the temple in 164BC that had been built by Zerubbabel, from which we get the feast of Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights or the Feast of Dedication. One passage you can look up is John 10:22.

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple following Judah Maccabee’s victory over the Seleucids. The sanctuary oil that was supposed to last one day lasted eight days.

Maccabee in Hebrew means: Hammer this was the nickname for Judas one of the five sons of a Jewish priest from Modiin, Mattathias the Hasmonean, Judas continued to lead the revolt after the death of his father and Hasmonean dynasty ruled Israel between 168BC-63BC. The Hasmonean dynasty ended in 37 BCE when the Idumean Herod the Great became king of Israel, he was put in by the Roman Senate.

The Seleucid Empire based in Syria was the occupying force in Israel at this time and forced on the local Jews the Greek ways and thinking. The Seleucid Empire was one of the four parts that emerged after the death of Alexander the Great in 332BC in Babylon at the age of 32 years old.

185BC -150BC. This family and others stayed faithful to God during the time called the silent years.

Old Testament Bible reference: this happened in the silent 400 years.

A celebrated Jewish family 170-37BC that defended the Jewish rights and customs.

Purified the temple in 164BC that had been built by Zerubbabel.

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple following Judah Maccabee’s victory over the Seleucids. The sanctuary oil that was supposed to last one day lasted eight days.

Maccabees in Hebrew means: Hammer.

Background Reading:

Through faith they became powerful in battle, and routed foreign armies — Maccabees against the Roman army.Hebrews 11:34

and

Maccabees

This happened after Malachi was written and the Gospels had not picked up the story again.